Can Miracles be Explained Scientifically?

Updated on December 29, 2014

If we grown-ups acquire the eyes and intellect of a child, we can find most of the things we see around us which we "take for granted" are indeed miracles! A human being, superior of all creations, can walk on this earth only in about 10 months after being born, whereas the calf of a cow walks almost on the same day of taking birth. Is it not a miracle?

Whether it's a calf of a cow or the child of a human being, it knows where to get the milk to satiate its hunger almost on the same day of its birth. Is it not a miracle? Who teaches a mosquito to come and bite us to gets its food? Is it not a miracle? Why the earth spins around its axis to give us day and night and moves around the sun to give the four seasons? Is it not a miracle?

Science can mostly explain WHAT is behind such natural happenings. What it cannot explain, it will say, it's nature (or instincts - like the calf looking for milk at the udder of the cow). But science cannot explain WHY.

Think of it: Every little thing associated with a child birth is a miracle. | Source

Science may attempt to answer HOW, but not WHY

Why should a baby be born when a man and woman do intercourse at the right time and circumstances?

While some couples with nothing wrong in their physical conditions cannot get a baby, how come some couples could produce more and more children?

Why should a woman give normal birth to a child whereas another woman develops complications and has to undergo cesarean section?

Why should excessive floods affect a country in one year and why should there be a drought in another year?

Thus when science cannot explain the "natural miracles" that we see all around all the time, where is the question of science explaining "unnatural miracles" that happen many times around great spiritual masters?

Is there any dearth of miracles that Jesus Christ did which are totally unnatural in common walk of life? Jesus fed hundreds of people with just 5 pieces of Barley breads. Once they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people (John 6.3). Which branch of science can explain how and why it happened?

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Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi. Whatever miracles happened around him, he never claimed anything to do with him. It's 'divine automatic action' according to him.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda. They were rich in spirituality, but very poor in worldly wealth.

Satya Saibaba. Unlike other Hindu saints, he never hesitated to demonstrate his siddhis for the sake of creating belief in people's mind.

It is easy for agnostics and non-believers to brush these aside as figments of imagination. But there are umpteen recorded evidences in the recent past as well as present such miracles happening around great Hindu saints.

In India,there have been innumerable Hindu saints and sages in whose presence many miracles took place. Great Hindu masters never accept the capacity to produce miracles (called Siddhis) as a measure of divinity. They say, such siddhis can be effected through the highest concentration of mind by very earnest practitioners of meditation. But many times miracles do take place in the presence of these masters even though they may not acknowledge such happenings as any effect of their "divinity", but claim such happenings as acts of God for the sake of instilling faith in the higher force in the minds of doubting devotees.

When the blind man Bartimaeus prayed to Jesus for giving him eyesight, Jesus blessed him with eyesight and said "Go; your faith has healed you". (Mark 10.52)

Many miracles happened around Bhagvan Ramana Maharshi and he never claimed anything associated with his powers. He would call such happenings as 'divine automatic action'.

There are also Hindu saints like Satya Saibaba who was well known for his open display of siddhis. Materializing gold chains, dollars, rings etc were like child play for him. But he was using such powers occasionally to very selective persons only with a higher goal of instilling faith in God and in the higher powers beyond human comprehension in their minds. He reserved such tactics for such people who will not believe in God or in a saint unless some form of miracle was demonstrated to them.

It can be seen in the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa that by a mere touch of his hand, he could kindle a divine vision to an earnest believer or elevate a person spiritually to a much higher plane. By a mere blessing, he could eradicate lust from the heart of an earnest disciple. While he gave the wealth of spirituality to his disciple Narendra (Swami Vivekananda), he could never bless his poverty-stricken family to any wealthy worldly living!

If you read the life history of Mata Amritanandamyi (Amma), there are umpteen incidents where people got cured of life-threatening ailments, barren women getting pregnant and giving birth to healthy children, people saved of deadly accidents just a moment before occurrence and so on. There are countless people who have been cured of addiction to smoking and drinking by Amma. Innumerable people, well educated doctors, engineers, and professionals, have left behind their high-paying professions and ended up in Amma's Ashram at Kerala (India) opting for an extremely simple life dedicated to social service today.

No science can ever explain these sort of miracles happening day to day even in the present time of history.

Very interesting article. It is true. Science can not explain many questions. It simply states facts and statistics about the elements of nature. It can not explain why it is so? So, we should accept the fact that there is some superior power behind all this universe which we call with different names. Thanks for sharing.

C.V.Rajan 23 months ago from Kerala, India Author

Thank you deborahmorrison1!

C.V.Rajan 23 months ago from Kerala, India Author

Sriramapriya,

Glad to know of it. Plan a visit to Ramanashramam! It is a very peaceful place.

C.V.Rajan 23 months ago from Kerala, India Author

Thank you Venkatachariji!

gsn 22 months ago

Nicely written sir. On further rumination, I personally analyzed and came with my own view on Thiesm and Athiesm. Theism followers already fixed the Destination in the Name of " GOD " and still searching is going on. Athiesm followers say the Non-existence of "GOD" categorically, but the fact remains that they are also in search of "GOD".

C.V.Rajan 22 months ago from Kerala, India Author

gsn,

Quite true. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says absence of faith in God is also a stepping stone towards search of God.